Gambling Life
by The Black Fedora
Summary: All of Naruto's life he had to live like a compulsive gambler in order to survive the hatred that comes from the entire village. What would happen if a special kind of gambler decided to watch over the kid. Multiple OCs in latter chapters, Rated M for language and violence. I do not own Naruto


**Speaking Guidelines**

"Talking**"**

'thinking'

Jutsu

**"Demon Talking"**

* * *

I walked through the forest with aching feet and a growling stomach. I dusted off my black leather pants of the dirt that I gathered from all the walking. I bashed my black boots on the trees to get the mud out of them so I had better traction. I re-adjusted my black leather trench coat for the fifth time tonight since somehow the rain caused the leather jacket to get slightly bulky and thus slightly uncomfortable. Heck I wouldn't be surprised if the rain got my grey long sleeve shirt wet and caused my glasses that I stored to keep them dry wet as well.

"And to think, this leather is supposed to be water proof," I exclaimed running my hand through my short brown hair in frustration, as I try to recount on how I got into this situation… oh yes, I decided to walk all night through the forest to some 'hidden village' while it was raining. I couldn't afford to freeze to death while sleeping, so I decided to spend the night traveling. It's a gamble that I was willing to take and now I'm soaking wet and exhausted; but at least I can say that this gamble paid off seeing that by the way the clouds are forming up ahead, tonight would've been worst. So yes, I made a good gamble (albeit I've strained my body from lack of rest). However, it was by my estimation, around 4:00pm so I had to find a place to sleep soon.

Up ahead, I see a large wooden gate that was closed for some reason or another. Hoping that I could somehow scale the walls, I decided to walk up to the gate while at the same time clapping my hands to see if the gate had any guards. As soon as I clapped my hands for the third time, I sensed movement from my right side near the gate where the foliage was.

"Halt state your business," said one of the two people who appeared out of the foliage. Just by looking at him I could note a few things: both of their cloths were messy, there were grass on both of their pants, and both of their eyes portray exhaustion. I wager that the two of them were napping on the job and only woke up when I started clapping. In other words, they're not serious about guard duty: I'm already formulating a gamble.

"I'm just an exhausted traveler who's simply looking for an inn to sleep at for the night, may I enter?" I simply replied, a bit of seriousness had to enter both of their eyes from what I could tell, a bit being the key word. "I'm sorry sir but the hidden village of Konoha is closed for the day, go to another village and get an inn there." And here is where I bring my charm into play.

I started by pulling out a decent size bag filled with Ryo, shaking it so the noise could be heard; this caught their attention. "I'm sorry sir but you can't bribe us for entry," replied one of the guards. But both of their eyes portray greed, and it's at that time I decided to enact the gamble.

"What bribe you with this bunch of pocket change? Oh no no no no, I have a better proposition for both of you two." I decided to reach into my trench coat pocket, noting that the two guards had reached for kunai with a shocked look in their faces… to which I grinned at, and I pulled out a second bag of Ryo that happens to be the same size as the first along with a black towel and my glasses. I threw the two bags at their feet and started cleaning my glasses with the black towel. They hesitated for a while which gave me enough time to throw the towel on top of one of the bags. As soon as it landed, the towel formed around the bag and all of a sudden the towel deflated as the bag seems to vanish beneath it. The two guards quickly picked the towel up to find that the money bag had vanished. The two guards then looked up to me to see that I had the second bag of Ryo in my hands, their expressions are that of complete anger: perfect.

"If you want this bag of money, along with a little bonus gentlemen: then you have to do something to earn it." I then proceeded place my glasses on my face and I then pulled out a deck of cards. "Do the two of you know how to gamble?" they nodded, "then here is the deal gentlemen, in that bag are a combine total of 2,000 Ryo, enough to split 1,000 Ryo between the two of you. I propose that you two gamble against me and my 2,000 Ryo. If I win, I keep the money and I get entrance into the village. If you two win, you keep the money and I'll leave without a second word. And look at it this way, if you lose, you lose nothing. But if you win, you two get a 2,000 Ryo bonus each. So do we have a deal?" And after I made the proposition, the two of them looked at each other and grabbed the bag that was at their feet, dividing the Ryo between each other. The two of them then sat down in front of the gate ready to gamble: hock, line, and sinker.

**_*30 minutes later*_**

At the end of that game, the two guards had lost all the Ryo that I gave them. With great sorrow, they open the gate for me without much resistance. I then started to walk in, hearing the gate close behind me… "Oh what the heck, I'll throw them both a bag of 2,000 Ryo for being such good sports." I whispered to myself as I grabbed a small sack of Ryo and threw it to the two guards before the gate fully closed. The last thing I heard was a gasp of joy and a quick trot as they collected their Ryo… ah human emotions, how easily it gets in the way of rational thinking.

XXXXXXXXXX

At first glance the village seems to be pretty calm and quiet… strange since according to the size, it should have a bustling population. With that thought in the back of my mind I decided that I should try to restock on supplies by heading to one of the stores around town before finding an inn. I found a nice little grocer and decided to pop in to grab some food items, and since this village is basically in a forest, I already had a few items in mind in which I would get. After a few minutes of searching I was slightly perplexed, apparently this place was missing a fruit that I barely go without…

"Excuse me can I get the shopkeeper over here?" I yelled. A middle-aged bald guy who I assume is the shopkeeper walked towards me and replied, "Is there something you need sir?" I then looked around before I focused my attention towards him. "You wouldn't happen to have Avocados here would you?" The shopkeeper just looked at me for a few seconds before responding, "I'm sorry we don't have any." Still sure that there should be avocados here, I asked, "so all the avocados are all sold out eh, who knew avocados were popular here." The shopkeeper then responded bluntly, "no I mean that there are no avocado fruit or trees here period."

At that point I started looking at him as if he had ten heads… "It's like if I were to go to a village on the shore and they say 'sorry no fish'", I whispered to myself. I then pointed outside, "Tell me, do you know what that is," I said with a voice filled with disbelief. "A tree," said the shop keeper. "And where do avocados grow?" I asked him. "A tree," said the shopkeeper. "Then I think you know what my next question is." I said to him. The shopkeeper simply rolled his eyes. "You're going to ask why there are no avocados growing even though we're in temperate climate with plenty of trees. Well sad to say, no one really wants avocados…" after that quote, I started to stare at him as if he had twenty heads. "Really… so this village doesn't believe in having avocados… one of the miracle fruits in the world, versatile in many culinary applications, and is incredibly delicious. Heck they'd probably make a killing of exporting the fruit yet still, no one wants it in this village despite this place being the perfect place to grow it… by all that is decent what is wrong with this village… " and as soon as I said that, I hear a massive amount of movement in the form of a mob; and from what I can tell, it's coming from near by.

"That would be one of the things wrong with this village." Said the shopkeeper, who given his reaction tells that this happens all too frequently, "the idiots in this place all seems to mob together in order to kill a lone kid… the worst of it seems to happen on this very day every year". I then looked back at him with shock and disgust, "seriously? Why!" I asked him, and judging from his reaction, he did not want to say the reason at all. "I don't know why. All that I know is that he's been abused like this since he was born around five years ago," he responded defensively, I decided not to push the question and looked at the calendar he had on the wall, '_October 10th'_ it said.

At that point, I decided that I had to do something to save this said kid. I may not know who the kid is but I didn't care; this kid needs to be protected from harm, even if the harm is a bunch of pea brain lunatics. "I'll take my leave and remember, I will rectify the 'no one wants avocado' lingo in this village… enjoy the tip." As I left, I heard the shopkeeper gasp at the 1,000 Ryo I left him… hey I can always make that back in five minutes, it's not a loss for me. But that's not important, what is important is that I save this kid from the mob. "Well Gyanbura, it's time to make another gamble… this time, it's to save a child."

XXXXXXXXX

I rushed to the location of the current incident which was a cluster of buildings which created narrow allies which acted like a maze; at least that was what it looked like if you were to see it from the roof tops. Ignoring that thought, I decided to check the child from my position while he was running for his life: he was a five-year old boy (from what the shop keeper told me) with blond hair, malnourished, and has many bruises on him. He had blue eyes and had 6 whisker marks total on his face… wonder how he got those… but I digress. Judging by his body language, I'd say that he was being chased for many minutes due to the amount of fatigue he's enduring. Then I took a look at the mob, they were clustered closely together, running at around the same speed, and by the looks of it if one were to trip then the entire mob would fall in on themselves like dominoes and they would have to halt to recover… that's how I'll save the kid.

"Lets see, how should I deal with this colony of pests… ah yes the classical scare tactic" I then proceed to pull out a card from my sleeve, it then started to glow. I then threw it in front of the mob. Card Trick: Card Flash, in an instant the card suddenly lit up brighter than sun which caused the people in the very front of the mob to flinch, thus causing the rest of the mob to collapse in on itself. By the looks of it, the mob will be out of commission for just long enough so the kid can escape. To make sure of this, I decided to try and catch up to the kid by traveling the roofs.

What I saw then shocked me even more. Two guys who wore attire like the guards in front of the village gate started ganging up on the kid, kunai in hand. I acted quickly and grabbed another card from my jacket, this time the edge started having katana sheen to the edge. Card Trick: Slicing Edge, I threw the card aiming at the assailant's wrist, as soon as it hit the assailant's wrist, it started to bleed profusely. This caused his partner to rush at his aid and thus it gave me enough time to grab the kid and frisk him to safety. I was able to rush him to an ally way that was isolated and concealed by a pile of rubble and trash; it'll do for a hiding place for the moment. 'Well at least the kid's safe for now. The question that i must ask now is, is what my next course of action is at this point in time. I refuse to let this kid suffer because of this idiotic ignorance.'

I waited a few moments to see if i can hear any footsteps from outside the ally, after a few moments i thought the coast was clear and I was prepared to move the still petrified kid to a safer place. Then my heart sank slightly when i heard someone from outside the ally calling out, 'Naruto, Naruto where are you?'

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So that's the first chapter of my story. Did you like it or not? Please review.


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